Paving block



Feb. 1, 19.44. I N.'H.-GREEN 2,340,526

- PAVING BLOCK Filed July 10, 1942 A T TORNE Y Patented Feb. 1, 1944 OFFICE 2,340,526 1 PAVING BLOCK Norvin H. Green, Tuxedo Park, N.Y.' Application July 10; 1942, Serial N6. 450,353

3 Claims.

This invention relates to cement blocks, which are-so designed that they interlock and by such interlocking form a self supporting surface. over any cavities formed in the underbed by the use of the roadway;

The objectof'the invention is to so interlock the cement blocks that their abutting jointsare.

at all timesdiagonal to the general line of trafiic,

so that the wheels of vehicles pass. over the.

abutting joints of theblocks, at an angle, other than a right angle. A striking of the wheels at right angles to ajoint, is likely to injure not alonethe vehicle but also the block edge which is'struck'.

A further objectis toprovide'such an interlooking that the blocks cannot readily be pulled apart owing to the action of frost or gradual settlement of the subgrade, due to compression smoother riding for vehicles as'the contact of the wheels is such asto break the joints, and the jar of any uneven joint is distributed.

The invention also consists of a paving block,.

having a suitable depth and parallel upper and lower surfaces, having a wall adaptedto actas a basic wall edge, and having every other wall edge in a direction at an angle to the basic wall edge, none of such angles being a right angle.

Furthermore, in the combination of interlocked blocks, the force of the blow delivery to the roadway by the wheels of a fast moving heavily laden truck which tends to compress. the subgrade will be distributed more evenly, and thus prevent a collapse, thereby reducing the cost of maintenance of the highway.

The invention will be further described hereinafter, embodiments thereof shown in the draw the claims.-

Inthe accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of'aroadway madewith 5 is a section taken on line 5'-5of1F-ig. 1. Similarcharacters of reference indicate ce'r' responding parts throughout the various views.

- eachother;

Reference is made more particularly to Figs. 1 and 4. The width of the roadway is from C to D. The roadway to the extent of this width is covered with cement blocks,- arranged longitu'dinallyof the roadway. Two shapes of blocks are preferably used, The type A is shown in Fig. 2 and the type B is shown in Fig. 3'. These types of blocks A and B, are so arranged in respect to eachother that theabutting faces of the blocks form lines or very thin gaps which in every case are diagonal to the longitudinal runway of the-road. In consequence, the wheels at no tirn egstrike headon at ninety degrees, and the-wheels are not caught in any longitudinal The type A: block hasone side wall l0 askew (not parallel)- to the other-side wall H. It has one: end formed of two end walls at an acute angle to each other, one of these walls [2 forming an obtuse angle with the wall Ill; and the other end wall 13 .forming an obtuse'angle with the side wall-ll. The other end. has end walls l4-and I5. The wall I4 is parallel with the wall 12,: and the-wall l5:ispara1lelwith the wall IS.

The othertype- B of Fig. 3, has it end walls 5 and substantially parallel with each other andits-sidewalls I8 and 19 askew to wall I! but parallel with each other. The side-walls 20 and 2] are also askewto wall l6wbut parallel with Theoffset walls 23 and 124' are in alignmentwith each other. The body portion 25 isQoffset from the-other body section 26.

A roadway may be made of type A only as shown in Fig. 4, or by assembling both types as shown in Fig. 1.

The blocks are; made of cement, concrete or other suitable material, and have a depth, all as well known. They, are so 'designedthat they'interlockand cannot readily become pulledapart owing to the action by frost or some gradual seti tlement of the subgrade due to compression caused by heavy trafiic.

Depending on traffic conditions the roadway may be made any desired width with any number oftrafiic lanes and' regardlessof the number of traflic lanes will still remain interlocked.- The interlocking of such blocks acts to'bring about asuspension of theroadway considered as an entity. Also, the size ofthe blocks will be such that they will not crack owing to expansion and contraction.

The improvement consists in having all longitudinal and transversejoints at an angle to the trafiic line so that at no time will the two Wheels attached to an axle of a moving vehicle be over the same joint at the same time. This will make for smoother riding for vehicles as it breaks the joints and distributes the jar of uneven joints.

At the same time the force of the blow delivered to the roadway by the wheels of fast moving heavy laden trucks tending to compress the subgrade 28 will be distributed more evenly and be taken up by the suspension action, greatly reducing cost of maintenance of the highway. With the present rectangular slabs ,it is necessary to drill holes through them and force concrete below them at high pressure to bring the end of the blocks up to grade where they have been hammered down by the force of the blow from the wheels of heavy trucks. The transverse joints, the general direction of which is from side to side of the roadway, are so designed that the outside forward wheel of 'a vehicle will cross it before the inside forward wheel,

and ii joints are uneven or out of level, this sequence of impingement will permit the driver to readily straighten the car in case it has been jolted out of line.

As-the longitudinal joints, the general direction of which is in alignment with the direction of travel, are not parallel with each other, the wheels of moving vehicles will cross them at an angle and not run along them. This, will prevent wheels from getting caught in the joints, should the slabs have become separated toform larger gaps as is often the case with rectangular blocks and will also prevent removal of tar from the joint by suction as happens on hot days when longitudinal joints are parallel with the line of traffic. This will materially lower the cost of maintenance of the roadway as it will not be necessary to fill joints with new tar as is the case with rectangular blocks, in the use of which the tar has been removed.

By the disposition of the contour lines of the individual blocks, the meeting edges of two contiguous blocks substantially parallel with each other form a line or a thin gap between the blocks. The contiguous edges are intended to be in a plane, and when the roadbed is constructed, the blocks are placed so that the edges are in a plane. In use, or in drying of the underbed, a displacement may take place to the extent that one or the other upper edge will be above the other. If in the direction of travel the nearer edge is above the further edge, the consequent descent of the wheel does not cause any opposing impinging action to the wheel. If, however, the further edge is lower than the nearer edge, then the further edge confronts the wheel. If the plane of rotation of the wheel is at right angles to the edge line, then a large resistance must be overcome by the wheel to ascend to the plane of the edge, and this resistance acts as a shock to the wheel.

The vibrations may be absorbed by the rubber tire, but may not be, and then are transmitted to the vehicle. A constant repetition of shocks to the tires or to the vehicle, as the vehicle travels many miles over a roadway with such obstructing edges, is bound to reduce the life and efficiency of such a vehicle. If, however, the wheel plane strikes the edge line at a bias, then this shock action is considerably reduced, if not entirely avoided. In consequence, the underlying principle of the present invention is to so dispose of the abutting edges of the contiguous blocks that at no time a head on obstruction of the edge of a block to a tire or wheel can take place; and also that a registration of wheel perimeter with a gap between contiguous blocks is avoided. At all times there is a bias impingement of wheel to the edge of blocks, when the vehicle follows the general line of travel of the roadway made up of the improved blocks. a

The invention therefore consists of a paving block having a contour the edge of which contiguous to an adjacent block is at a bias to the line of direction of travel of a vehicle passing over the blocks. The invention consists also in so disposing of the contour of the blocks that an interlocking action results, by which a suspension action of the interlocked blocks supports the blocks by the blocks themselves, so that upon the settlement of a portion of the underbed 28 to a spatial extent less than the length or width of the block, the block will not descend into the cavity.

The invention consist also of a paving block, having a suitable depth and parallel upper and lower surfaces, having a wall adapted to act as a basic wall edge, and having every other wall edge in a direction at an angle to the basic wall edge, none of such angles being a right angle.

I have described several forms of my invention, but obviously various changes may be made in thedetails disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as set out in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. An improved roadway having at least four paving blocks of a suitable depth and'with parallel upper and lower surfaces, each having one of its lateral wall edges adjacent and parallel with opposed edges of the roadway and acting as a basic wall edge, and having every other wall edge in a direction at an angle to such basic wall edge, none of such angles being a right angle, the lateral wal1 edges being askew to one another, one longitudinal end having at least two wall edges forming an obtuse angle with each other, and the other longitudinal end of the block having at least two wal1 edges forming'an acute angle with each other and contacting'in registration with the bight of the obtuse angle of the longitudinal end of the next adjacent block, and said two paving blocks at one of the edges of the roadway being in mirror reverse to two like blocks at. the opposed edge of the roadway, all

vehicle passing over the gap line when the vehicle moves in the generaldirection of the roadbed.

2. In combination, with a roadway underbed having edges for a roadbed of a plurality of paving blocks, the contiguous edges of which interlock and form a suspension of the blocks by such interlocking, each paving block having a suitable depth and parallel upper and lower surfaces, and having one of its lateral edges adjacent and parallel with opposed edges of the roadway and acting as albasic wall edge adjacent to and parallel with one edge of the roadway, and having every other wall edge in a direction at an angle to such basic wall edge, none of such angles being a right angle, the lateral Wall edgesbeing askew to one another, one longitudinal end having at least two wall edges forming an obtuse angle with each other, the other longitudinal end of the block having at least two edges forming an acute angle with each other and contacting in registration with thebight of the obtuse angle of the longitudinal end of the next adjacent block, said blocks having one wall edge aligned,

with one of said roadway edges and in mirror reverse to a block having one edge aligned with the other roadway edge, said blocks having a space between them centrally of the roadway, and blocks of a contour conforming to the space between said aligned blocks, all gap lines formed by adjacent edges disposed at a bias to the plane of rotation of a wheel of a vehicle-passing over the gap line when the vehicle moves in the general direction of the roadbed.

3. In combination, with a roadway underbed having edges for a roadbed of a plurality of paving blocks, the contiguous edges of which interlock and form a suspension of the blocks by such interlocking, each paving block having a suitable depth and parallel upper and lower surfaces, and any one of the wall edges adapted to act as a basic wall edge adjacent to and parallel with one edge of the roadway, and having every other wall edge in a direction at an angle to said basic wall edge, none of such angles being a right angle, the lateral wall edges being askew to one another, one longitudinal end having at least two wall edges forming an obtuse angle with each other, and the other longitudinal end having at least two wall angles forming an acute angle, one longitudinal end being narrower than the other longitudinal end, the latter having an exposed part when the narrower acute angle end of the longitudinally adjacent block enters the obtuse angle, said blocks having one wall edge aligned with one of said roadway edges and in mirror reverse to a block having one edge aligned with the other roadway edge, said blocks having a space between them centrally of the roadbed, and blocks of a contour conforming to the space between said aligned blocks, the last named blocks having matching end portions offset from each other and having angular portions to interlock with the contiguous exposed parts of adjacent blocks uncovered by the said contacting longitudinal end edges, all gap lines formed by adjacent edges disposed at a bias to the plane of rotation of a wheel of a vehicle passing over the gap line when the vehicle moves in the general direction of the roadbed.

NORVIN H. GREEN. 

